DPT 511 - Production animals

Bovine Pathology Case studies 2021

Instructions

1. Provide one or more morphological diagnosis

2. Provide an aetiological diagnosis or develop a list of differential diagnosis – to know what samples to focus on
3. List key epidemiological features for the diagnosis or each of the DD’s
4. List the specimens to be collected and diagnostic tests to be performed to confirm a diagnosis for each DD.
What is normal and abnormal and the lesions

Case 1 – Cerebral babesiosis

Diagnosis

Brain smear

Transection of 2 brains - At PM, with a microscope in your practice you can end the diagnosis process by making a
brain smear
Top
- Rarely/never indicated on horse, but rare on a dog (blood smear can work)
- Normal brain tissue - Sheep – brain smear only indicated for heartwater
- Pale grey appearance - Cattle – 2 indications (heart water and cerebral babesia)
Cerebral babesia (babesia bovis), different to bigemina
Bottom - in the capillaries
- different to heart water -colonies of morula are next to the nuclei which are
- Abnormal affected animal
intracytoplasmic
- Severe cerebral congestion - with cerebral babesia – the parasitised red blood cells sludge within the capillary lumens
- Pink to intense red discolouration - red blood cells change their surface structure, and they get sticky -> congestion of the
brain
DDs for the severe cerebral congestion
Inflammation
- active congestion or hyperaemia
- Could be a meningitis – with an outer membranous structure,
with pia mater and sub arachnoid tissues – highly intensely
reddened – will not enter into white matter
- Low on the list, but still NB, when you open the brain and see
the brain from an outside surface
If still considering meningitis – take a large section to fill the urine
containers on ice for bacterial aerobic culture and section 1cm by
5mm for histopathology for confirming bacteria inflammation
Morphology
- 80% of the RBC’s are affected by 2 structures – you cannot clearly see what they look like
here
- but the key thing is = 2 black balls in RBC’s, you cannot see the RBC’s properly as they are
tightly packed
- parasites can appear outside the RBC’s when there is haemolysis = normal
- 2 large black structures next to each other need to be notes, as there is large black
structure in RBC (Howell Jolly bodies and anaplasma)
- 2 black structures = cerebral babesia
Babesia Bigemina (African red water) Babesia Bovis (Asiatic red water)

Water deprivation / salt poisoning

- animals taking too much salt? – more of a situation with Smaller and round in structure
water deprivation – excessive accumulation of sodium Larger babesia and in pairs Lie opposing each other
chloride in the brain tissue but is the result of long-term Peared shaped, 45-degree angles to each other Have their own cytoplasmic bubble and polar
dehydration and sudden rehydration, than taking in a lot of Blood/brain smear = equal numbers of RBC’S nucleus
salt. infected Different numbers in smear – more in brain smear
- Salt is added to the feed to restrict intake – so its unlikely that More common through the country than blood smear
the animals will poisoning themselves with salt by taking in a You make a diagnosis on the difference in call noticed on the blood smear and brain smear
lot of salt Difference should be known due to control and management
- Taking in too much brackish water – water with high salinity Life cycles
and animals forced to drink the water – then you can get salt - Ticks are a vector for these conditions
poisoning with excessive salts - Boophilus ticks = Riphicephalus ticks
Babesia Bovis
- Moving to anew camp with no water – then realized later, but
- Rhipicephalus microplus
is dangerous when you suddenly rehydrate the animals -> the
Babesia Bigemina
salt content in the brain
- Rhipicephalus deceloratus
- increase and a lot of water in circulation will allow brain to
 absorb and overhydrate -> brain oedema with Neurological
signs and death
- toxological test – large portion of the cerebrum (half or
whole) – put on ice and can be frozen and kept at 4 degrees
and send for toxological analysis for sodium chloride
Cerebral babesia (babesia bovis, babesia bigemina)
- cerebral babesia bovis in this case - > on a microscopic level
the red blood cells that are parasitised, sludge into the
capillaries of the cortex and causing congestions ->
macroscopically evident
- intensity of congestion can be variable – make a brain smear if
unsure
Cerebral babesia form
- brain is infected and the CS (CNS signs)
- variable signs = cases which are fine the next day and the next
morning they are dead
- they can become hyper excitable and can look like heart
water cases and can be confused with rabies
- hyperactive, salivation and aggressive
- rabies and babesia = DD
Vaccinations
- do not vaccinate animals in the pre-immunity
- you need to look at the calf’s exposure to ticks and so they
can get infection and immunity together with exposure of
ticks at a young age
- if calves managed correctly then you do not need to vaccinate
NB because as R. Microplus
- is sensitive to humid
- occurs in areas with high humidity and high rain
- thus, cerebral babesia can be sporadic on farms
Babesia bigemina
- overlaps areas of B.Bovis
- there is no real immune transfer between the 2
- thus, cus its immune to the one, does not mean it will be to the other
Occurrence of R. decolaratus
- throughout WC/central/easter parts if country
- common occurrence of the tick
- Helps with the resistance
(look at pre-immunity video)
Animals born during drought period – do not often get babesia bovis
Animals which move the pre-immunity age (6 months) and get exposed for the first time as a sub adult
with babesia bovis, because of higher rain falls (area where the tick occurs expands and proliferates
and then you get an outbreak of cerebral babesia)
Endemic stability
- Pre-immunity within the cattle population of young calves go hand in hand and when
you have young calves that are exposed at a young age – do not show clinical signs
and have immunity life long provided they are exposed lifelong to ticks
- Protozoal organisms require exposure from infected ticks
Infected ticks
- Ticks for babesia in general is that the parasite is transmitted transovarial
Why is it important?
-if parasite is transmitted transovarial (adult tick has had her blood meal that is
infected by red blood cells that is infected, is transferring the infection to the larvae
(which don’t need to feed on a carrier animal to become infected), they are already
 - relocate and moving animals then you can consider
vaccinating
Vector borne disease
- the epidemiological pattern is NB
- seasonal patterns
- mosquitoes, midges, flies, and ticks – higher incidence of the
condition at the end of summer – April, may and tapers at
may June and the exposure goes down
- exposure of diseases – dose related conditions
- high dose – more susceptible to developing clinical conditions
Animals which breed will definitely have a higher resistance (Nguni) –
threshold level is higher than other breeds
Pathogenic strains of both babesia – some more pathogenic than
others
Infection dose is the key – if you keep the tick levels low, then the
clinical manifestation in the population will be manageable when
infecting calves at a young age
Blood smear of an animal suffering from Babesia Bovis
- single and double occurring in pairs are common
- note the cytoplasm’s in the centre is a clear ring and with diff
quick staining, it stains this light blue colour – NB
Theileria is not as big as these organisms and is half the size and not
infected through the blood meal and this will amplifier the number of parasites in the
population and then infect a new tick population and ticks that has not been exposed
-you cannot get rid of this condition, for that to happen you need to get rid of the ticks
(impossible) – you cannot create the situation when management and elimination can
occur on farm
- This is different for theileria species
Organisms are not transovarial transmitted = larvae from the tick batch are free from
the infection = if you keep the larvae from feeding from carrier animals – you will have
a free tick population from infection
With the larvae which are infected already, you can send Animals can be sent into a camp with babesia
mortalities – the ticks in the camp will be highly infective = tiny ticks can transmit conditions
Animals can have clinical babesiosis – whereby you arrive on the farm and see no ticks on the animals
(because the larvae if difficult to be seen, but infection is transmitted)
Other findings at PM
In the Pre-immunity video – in young calves of an animal below weaning age (4-6 months) and you find
babesia and anaplasma/theileria on blood smear) – you must go further and look for findings at PM
- Animals’ anaemia and have a fever
- High number of parasites and animal Is pyrexia
Necropsy
- Enlarged spleen
On section it will bulge with red pulp hyperplasia – macrophages in the spleen which are
phagocytising the parasitised cells that are covered by the antibody and those cells will in
large number be present in the spleen
White pulp hyperplasia can be seen as it is an immunological reaction
- Serosa surface and fat and pleura and look at the muscle fasciae is slightly tinged in
yellow – icterus is in the animal
- Enlarged spleen and icterus – haemolytic process
round, but elongated All intravascular haemolytic conditions cause haemoglobinuria

- Haemoglobin overwhelms the carrying capacity of the carrier proteins in the blood -> excreted in
the filtrate of the urine

Extravascular haemolysis

Babesia bigemina – classic pear-shaped forms – cute angles and not
opposing each other
NB to differentiate between them as they do not carry immunity
between each other and influences vaccines
- The macrophages that phagocytose the red blood cells, break it down to various components
(being haemoglobin), that is in the cytoplasm and is not released in circulation and is converted
to bilirubin that is released in circulation and animals will be icteric with anaplasma, but no
haemoglobin in the urine
What do you do with a suspected case of babesia and no urine in the bladder?
- Check the kidneys – macroscopic it is difficult
- Kidney sections for histopathology – pigment in the kidney and with staining process, can
differentiate between haemoglobin and myoglobin
- Also, Cu poising – intra vascular haemoglobinuria – sheep – not common in cattle

Babesia bigemina

- tiny little nucleus to the one side, whereby bovis has its
nucleus to the one pole

Haemolytic conditions

- Babesia
- Theileria
- Anaplasmosis

Diagnosis
Haemoglobinuria within the urinary bladder
- Contains deep red colour – as a result of haemoglobin
Deep red colour in Urinary Bladder DD
- Haemoglobinuria
- Myoglobinuria
Animals which are decomposed
- Decomposition of the blood vessels of the urinary bladder can
cause the urine in the bladder the tinge a reddish tinge colour
What will not cause this deep red colour in the urine?
- Extra-vascular diseases
- Anaplasmosis – extra-vascular haemolytic disease
looking at the same cerebral babesia brain smear
- Brain smear
- If you unsure what you see – get a spleen on ice for PCR/molecular techniques – shows which
babesia
- Using molecular techniques – you have to be weary of the answer if it is positive, if you have a
PCR result and if you take spleen and you have not seen all the PM findings considering cerebral
babesia – you will make a mistake and the results come positive, but the animal is a carrier
Spleen on a young calf that was exposed, may be a carrier
- Link PCR and PM conditions
- Kidney for Histopathology (but check the macroscopic changes)